The Redwood City City Council on Monday is scheduled to consider letting San Mateo County off the hook for $500,000 in fees associated with construction of a $165 million jail.

One reason the council may be so accommodating is because the county won’t build the jail downtown, as it originally intended.

Construction permits and water and sewer hookup fees should cost the county about $1 million, according to a memo by Community Development Director Bill Ekern and City Manager Bob Bell.

They recommend cutting the bill in half, citing four reasons: the county is the developer, it already paid unanticipated hazardous clean-up costs, it voluntarily installed larger sewer lines that will reduce demands for city maintenance, and it “agreed to avoid potentially negative economic development impacts” on the city’s downtown by building the jail away from there.

Sheriff Greg Munks initially targeted a county-owned parcel downtown, but city officials strongly objected and helped the county negotiate a deal for a 4.8-acre site east of Highway 101, across from the Redwood City Police Department.